Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Feast of Winter Veil is an event, a temporary Warcraft world holiday that reflects a certain real world holiday. In this case, Christmas. It lasts for 2 weeks over the Christmas holidays.

New Clothes

Tailors on alliance side will find a pattern for the above cute red suit in their mailbox (say hello to Klaudia, my mage). Horde tailors get the green suit, which Dustfire is modeling. There were issues with uneven distribution of the patterns, so if you have a tailor and haven't gotten the pattern, like my Klaudia, you can find the recipes on the Smokeywood Pastures vendors (who appear ONLY during Feast of Winter Veil) in Orgrimmar and Ironforge. Not sure if they'll do it the same way next year, but Smokeywood Pastures is neutral and therefore horde and alliance can fight their way to buy the opposing outfit recipe.

Leatherworkers will find a pattern for Winter Boots in their mailbox. Though a leatherworking recipe, the boots are cloth and wearable by anyone. (Dustfire is also modeling these boots.)

Outfits and boots have no bindings, so you can trade, loan, borrow, and sell these outfits to your heart's content.

There are issues with the suit looking "skanky" on girls. In the middle of taking the picture to your right, I had to /ignore a guy for making suggestive comments.

My stance on the clothes is thus: I found them in WoW Model Viewer and made that Christmas Klaudia image a few months back, then searched to see if they were available in-game. From what I could tell, they weren't, and I was a little disappointed. So I was very excited to see that now they are, because they're something I specifically wanted.

I just have to hide from boys while I'm wearing them. O.o

Green and red Santa hats have a chance to drop from any boss in the game during these two weeks. These hats are bind-on-pickup, so you have to be there to get it.

Tricks

/kiss a holiday reveler in any inn, and they'll give you something fun like snowflakes to shower on another player or a +20% spirit increase item that you can only use on another player.

Winter Veil Disguise Kit: Turns you into a snowman. Requires a snowball to use. Supposedly shows up in the mailbox, but I don't know anyone who's gotten one, though I've seen it.

Quests

Gather your quests in the hubs of Ironforge and Orgrimmar.

Treats for Great-father Winter: (Goal: 1 milk & 5 gingerbread cookies.) Get 5 [Small Eggs] and buy milk from a food & drink vendor. Get 5 [Holiday Spices] from a special holiday goblin vendor. If you're a cook, get the gingerbread recipe from that same vendor, or ask someone else to make it for you. Turn in.

Reason for the Season [A/H]: (Goal: Talk to someone.) You'll be sent to talk to some famous leader after the first part. Easy.

Metzen the Reindeer [A/H]: Levels 45+. Best done as a group quest. Rewards the non-soulbound [Preserved Holly], allowing you to transform your current mount into a reindeer 5 times, lasting until you dismount. Flying mounts give you a flying reindeer, which leaves a trail of sparkles when you fly. ^_^

Pets

All found in [Gaily Wrapped Present], which are available for pickup under the trees in Ironforge and Orgrimmar on and after December 25th.

Snowman Kit: Will /wave and /dance back at you, but does not follow you.

All require a [Snowball] to summon. Snowballs are sold by Smokeywood Pastures goblins in any major city, 10c per snowball. Also, buy extra snowballs to throw at friends. ^_^

Gifts

Gifts under the trees in Orgrimmar and Ironforge are available starting December 25th to the end of the Winter Veil holiday. Each type of gift is marked with a quest-giver's exclamation point (!) and can only be picked up once. Pet items can be traded, bought, or sold if you didn't get the one you want.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

This is a video tutorial showing you what the raid boss Maiden of Virtue is like. :) While the fight is happening, you can read pertinent notes about the boss. (I can never ever ever ever ever understand boss fight videos or pvp videos. I always need my husband to explain what's going on. But not everyone has access to my husband. So I made it nice and easy.)

Monday, December 10, 2007

This is partly for me, looking about and trying to find some of the best trinket quest rewards while leveling. I'm doing this because I'm actually leveling some alliance alts at the moment. ^_^ I want to get my mage tailor to 50 before Lunar Festival so she can get the pattern for the pretty red festival dress. Because it requires level 50 to get. *le sigh*

Anyway, I was checking out Farrow (armory) and realized I find a lot of great trinkets by looking at other people. So feel free to post your favorite trinkets and why, if I don't get all the good ones. ^_^ I'll add to this list as we go.

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Fast

Nifty StopwatchRun speed +40% for 10 seconds when used.Do every quest from this guy in Badlands, starting at level 37.

*Must have an alchemist to transmute these primals into Primal Might. You can grind for these primals instead of buying them. There is a hidden plateau in Nagrand behind the Throne of Elements that has earth, fire, and air elementals. Netherstorm has lots of mana beasts you can grind. Not sure about water, though.

Skybreaker WhipMount speed +10%.Must have epic flying skill at level 70 and follow the quest chain to get revered with Netherwing.

Charm of Swift FlightDruid flying form speed +10%.Only available for level 70 druids on their epic flying form quest.

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Strong (Melee)

Rune of the Guard Captain (Horde Only)Attack +20, Hit rating +10.Hit is most useful for raiding, but generally useful for being able to hit things higher than you. (The higher something is, the less likely your attacks will hit it.) Only hit rating trinket before Outlands.Get quest Job Opening: Guard Capt of Revantusk Village from the sign in Revantusk at level 51. (coords 79,79 Hinterlands) This quest used to have you kill elites, but the mobs are no longer elite.

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Powerful (Caster)

Blessed Prayer Beads (priests only)On use, +190 healing, +64 damage for 20 seconds.Start with Cenarion Aid from this guy. Bring an Ichor of Undeath for the quest chain. There should be some on the AH.

Shiffar's Nexus-Horn+30 spell crit. Chance on spell crit to add 225 spell damage and healing for 10 seconds.12% drop by Harbinger Skyriss in normal or heroic Arcatraz, a level 70 instance that requires a key from this quest.Great for a caster with a high spell crit rating, especially mages and healing paladins.

Mark of the Chosen2% chance when struck in combat to +25 all stats for 1 minute.Do level 48 quest The Pariah's Instructions from this guy.I still use this, mostly for pvp because as a caster I don't get hit in instances or raids. Looks like it'd be great for tanks.

Uther's Strength2% chance when struck of protecting you with a holy shield.4% drop rate off of ?? elite Lethon, who spawns randomly in Duskwood, Feralas, the Hinterlands or Ashenvale. Also 4% drop rate off of final boss Ragnaros in Molten Core, a level 60 40-man raid. (A well-geared team of 70's could 5-man it, probably.)

Smotts' CompassDodge +12.Kill hard-hitting level 50 elite, Mok'rash for his Monogrammed Sash. Turn in to Captain Smotts and get The Captain's Cutlass which leads to a kill quest for another hard-hitting elite. Dodge is great for rogues, but you'll need a party to do these quests and some Barbecued Buzzard Wings (2 per person in order to summon the guy for the last part, the recipe is from the Badlands) and wine that's sold in Booty Bay.

Insignia of the Alliance/Horde (Stormwind / Orgrimmar) (Champions' Hall / Hall of Legends)Removes movement impairing effects and anything that causes loss of control of character.PVP item, buyable at pvp vendors at any level for 2,805 honor. Acquire honor through battlegrounds.I am 70 and still use this, though there's a better version for 70s.

Medallion of the Alliance/Horde (Champions' Hall / Hall of Legends)Level 70 version.Resilience +20, removes movement impairing effects and anything that causes loss of control of character.---------------

Piccolo of Flaming FireCauses nearby players to dance.From rare spawn Hearthsinger Forresten in Stratholme.Works in a certain radius, but not if they move. We took in a 5-man of 70s and got it easily.There's a back way in that's closer to Hearthsinger Forresten, though I don't know how to get the key. You'll have to look into that.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

So a guy came up to my husband a few weeks ago in Terrokar and just started attacking him verbally for no good reason (guild name and gear especially). Today we were in arenas and husband was watching my screen during the queue and saw the guy who insulted him. So he pointed him out to me.

He went to get tea and I said out loud in-game, "Ignoring [name] because he insulted my husband for no good reason." Then I /ignored him.

(Note that I said it out loud because he was there, and I wanted him and his friends to know what he'd done. If he hadn't been, there would have been no comment.)

Five minutes later, after the arena, his friend whispered me, telling me it was a bad idea: "Bad idea." He proceeded to inform me, paraphrased, that it wasn't a good idea to offend people because I might find myself "camped" more often.

When my family started talking to him, because I had to read it out loud in vent, because we were in vent from Arenas and the camping line was so absurd, we found out:

His guild controls Zuluhed.

They have Alliance alts with which to camp us.

His guild could boycott our guild's goods and make life uncomfortable for us.

He seemed pleasant enough while telling us this. Ignoring the fact that Zuluhed is ... well, a dead server, and that I'm rarely on except for arenas/instances/dailies, and that our guild is almost completely self-sufficient, and that we all sell and trade through bank alts who aren't in the guild, and that we're all incredibly good friends, and that we're actually talking about a server transfer at the moment, then yeah, they could make our lives so incredibly hectic. I just don't know how we'll survive if we offend The Guild That Rules Zuluhed.

In all honesty, yeah, I'm going to publicly denounce and ignore and refuse to help anyone who hurts my family, and urge my guild to do the same (we have a Kill on Sight list that horde get on as often as alliance do). But I'm not going to be petty about it. /ignore, know the person is a jerk, let it be known to my friends and maybe the people around the battlemasters. That's my M.O. I don't "spam" (which I was accused of), I don't continue to bother anyone after the fact, and I don't hold a grudge. I just know not to associate with certain people because they're jerks.

Now, if I did that to an 8-year-old, yeah. I'd feel bad and apologize. I mean, I'd get upset about someone hurting our Aaron, publicly ignoring him like that even if it was his fault. He's young. But a regular player who insults my hubby for no good reason? I don't care if he's a GM. He will get ignored, and I won't be embarrassed to mention it publicly.

Anyway, the guy who whispered me, from what I can tell from what he said to my friends/family, was polite but arrogant (and not the same guy as the one I ignored, because they were on at the same time). He wasn't upset, either. Just ... had an overblown idea of his guild's importance and what discomfort they could cause our guild.

Honestly, some of our boys want more world pvp anyway.

Note that KoS would only apply if he bothered to go through with the camping threat. I wasn't saying that I would definitely KoS him, and he wasn't saying he would definitely camp me (I'm pretty sure). He was just really arrogant and trying to warn me not to offend the wrong people. Kind of like the mob.

Edit: Apparently, the guy who whispered me was the other guy's dad. This sheds new light and makes the whispers less random, and I understand the whisperer better and can sympathize, even though he should also be talking to his kid about not ragging on people's names and gear for no reason (my husband doesn't even care anymore, I just ignored because it's what a supportive wife does). But I don't mind as much being chastised by a parent -- protecting the kid is their job. I do mind him not being straightforward. I'm not unreasonable. Our Aaron is 12, and he's just my friend but I'd gut anyone who hurt him.

So... I'm still ignoring the son, but I might ignore the dad now too, to keep anything else from happening. Try and argue with an overprotective parent, you'll get ripped to shreds. There's nothing reasonable about it. It's all instinct.

I've been playing since January '07 and have several less awesome characters. My real life profession is writing, and I've been married since my junior year of college. Whenever that was.

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Contrary to popular belief, my favorite color is not, in fact, pink. It's blue. But in a game built mainly for guys, I get excited about any girly additions and consider it my duty and my pleasure to gush over them.